This invention relates to a novel absorbent material of vegetable origin and to the use of materials of vegetable origin for treating organic waste. The invention more particularly relates to absorbent materials comprising dried vegetable pulp and to the use of dried vegetable pulp in methods for treating organic waste, such as in particular animal urine and faeces.
As a result of the increasing environmental consciousness nowadays, many of the most usual absorbent products used for treating animal waste, in particular in the form of litter for domestic animals, essentially cats, have become largely undesirable: many of these products are currently based on mineral materials (e.g. clay and marl) which can not be composted or burned. These materials accordingly to a large extent end up in collected domestic waste and thus increase the landfill problems or yield unburned residues in incineration plants.
Alternative animal litter materials which are being considered, based on recycled paper or wood, present other drawbacks linked to ink removal and the use of solvents and paper chemicals, to the consumption of trees, or to the use of wood preservation chemicals.
The use of dried vegetable pulp has been proposed for absorbent materials in general. U.S. Pat. No. 4,386,560 discloses preparing pet litter from a material obtained by drying the pulp resulting from the squeezing of citrus fruit or sugar beet. Japanese Patent 57-54573 discloses an absorbent material obtained by bleaching beet pulp in hypochloric acid. UK patent application GB 2.177.100 discloses absorbent pectin-containing vegetable materials resulting from the incorporation of substituents into residues of citrus juice processes and sugar beet refinery.
It has now been found surprisingly that certain specific types of dried vegetable pulp provide superior properties to absorbent materials without necessitating the special treatment steps of the known art, and thus provide a simplified approach to improved absorbent materials.